Korean Summit Maneuvers

Kim Jong Un thinks he can resist immediate denuclearization.

North Korea is threatening to cancel the June 12 summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump if it means giving up its nuclear weapons unilaterally, and credit the North for candor. The North is restating its long-time position, and better for the world to know the truth going into the summit than bank on false hopes.

The Trump Administration is treating the statement as a fit of pique, and in one sense that’s right. Kim isn’t likely to walk away from the summit, a diplomatic prize Pyongyang has sought for decades. But the...